Contested Cache Expiry — ETag Contradiction Incident
Two ETag values were issued for the same versioned asset within a 400ms window. The first declared the resource fresh for 86,400 seconds. The second revoked freshness effective immediately. Both headers bear valid signatures.
Browser clients downstream of the incident received one or the other at apparent random, producing a bifurcated cache state across the user population. Approximately 43% of sessions loaded the prior version. All sessions reported the content was correct.
Uncacheable Ursula was summoned for testimony. She confirmed issuing both headers and declined to identify which was authoritative, stating: “Freshness is a feeling, not a timestamp.”
The appeal is ongoing. No stale-while-revalidate directive has been issued pending resolution.